A view of cryptozoology that might be a bit different.
Saturday, 27 February 2010
1960's sea serpent sightings Skegness England.
During the 1960’s there was a Butlins holiday camp at Skegness in Lincolnshire which attracted lots of visitors and a spate of sea monster sightings.
A holidaymaker is appealing for a middle-aged couple to come forward to verify his story about “something like the Loch Ness Monster” which he claims to have seen at Chapel St Leonards [near Skegness].Mr George Ashton of Miles Road Sheffield was strolling near the beach recently with his wife, May, when they were ‘mystified’ by the sight less than 100 yards offshore. “It had a head like a serpent and six or seven pointed humps trailing behind”, he said. Mr Ashton, a 49 year old shot-blaster at Sheffield casting works, has a caravan at the seaside village just north of Skegness. He also has a motor boat and said “When I have been out at sea I have seen seals and sea snakes swimming about and what I saw was neither of these. “At first I thought it was a log but it was travelling at about 8 miles per hour and going parallel with the shore. We watched it for some time coming from the direction of Chapel Point until it disappeared out of sight towards Ingoldmells. “I just didn’t believe in these things and tried to convince myself it was a flight of birds just above the water. But it was leaving a wake in the water. I even thought of a miniature submarine but after watching it for some time I knew it couldn’t be. “There was no noise, it just skimmed through the water.” About a 100 yards from them was a middle-aged couple who were also looking out to sea. “They disappeared onto a caravan site nearby”. said Mr Ashton. “There was no one else about and I want them to prove to my friends that I’m not joking. I have always been the first to laugh at the Loch Ness Monster and such things as flying saucers – things that cannot be explained – but not anymore. “I will swear on oath about what I saw”. Said Mrs Ashton, “It really was an incredible sight and a complete mystery”. Mr Jack Hawkes, licensee of the Smugglers Inn at Chapel St Leonards, just opposite the site where Mr Ashton keeps his caravan, said “He seem to be the only person to have seen it, but the way he described his experience convinced me he saw something!” .Said a Coastguard official, “I haven’t seen any monsters. We get sharks sometime, but not of this description”.Source: Skegness Standard 19th October 1966
This was not the first time something had been sighted off the coast in that area:
ON 7th August 1960, 5 witnesses saw a fast moving creature off shore in the sea described as black, long and whale like.
On August 14th 1960 Mr Len Booth reported that he saw a strange whale like creature also witnessed byMr John Dutton. This was in the same area
The following day August 15thMrs Joan Betts and Rosina Stubbs sawa long black thingdark and curved about 800 yards( 265 metres) off shore going fast through the sea.
Then earlier in 1966( exact date unknown) Mr John Hayes saw a huge dark shape 500 yards( 165 metres) from shore moving at about 20 mph .
(More details of these sightings can be found in “Sea Serpents and Lake monsters of the British Isles” by Paul Harrison 2001 Robert Hale ltd London).
So what was it? Well some of the sightings could have been a whale or a basking shark but the sighting in the newspaper article was different. Mr Ashton said he knew what seals etc looked like and it was nothing he had seen before. Any suggestions as to what he saw?
i was on holiday in Chapel St Leonards staying in a caravan park behind sand dunes next to the beach in the late 70's I would be about 12 years old at the time. It was about 7 o'clock in the evening and was still light when I went down to the beach for a paddle. I was in the water up to my chest when I caught sight of something in the water about 20-30 feet further out from me moving as you said parallel to the beach I would say it was at least 17-18 feet long of what I could see of it poking out of the water. It had large thick fins on its back which curved back, at least 7 -8 of them as best i can remember. It was dark in colour like a grey brown colour there was no sound other than the disturbance it made as it cut through the water and was travelling at about 8-10 miles an hour it scared me quite a bit I can tell you. I watched it untill it went out of sight by which time I was no longer in the water lol. I ran back and told my parents but they just laughed at me. It was many years later when I happened on a book about sea serpents and dicovered to my amazement that there was a picture of what I had seen in the book also seen off the coast of skegness. It was passed off in the book as possibly being a flock of seagulls on the horizon or a school of porposes. I know for a fact that what I saw was real I had never seen anything like it. I saw some kind of unrecorded creature never documented. It affected me so much even after all these years and when I saw this blog I just had to say something. I wonder if it is still alive, nothing lives for ever and to have seen it means there must be more than one a species can't exist by itsself.
i was on holiday in Chapel St Leonards staying in a caravan park behind sand dunes next to the beach in the late 70's I would be about 12 years old at the time. It was about 7 o'clock in the evening and was still light when I went down to the beach for a paddle. I was in the water up to my chest when I caught sight of something in the water about 20-30 feet further out from me moving as you said parallel to the beach I would say it was at least 17-18 feet long of what I could see of it poking out of the water. It had large thick fins on its back which curved back, at least 7 -8 of them as best i can remember. It was dark in colour like a grey brown colour there was no sound other than the disturbance it made as it cut through the water and was travelling at about 8-10 miles an hour it scared me quite a bit I can tell you. I watched it untill it went out of sight by which time I was no longer in the water lol. I ran back and told my parents but they just laughed at me. It was many years later when I happened on a book about sea serpents and dicovered to my amazement that there was a picture of what I had seen in the book also seen off the coast of skegness. It was passed off in the book as possibly being a flock of seagulls on the horizon or a school of porposes. I know for a fact that what I saw was real I had never seen anything like it. I saw some kind of unrecorded creature never documented. It affected me so much even after all these years and when I saw this blog I just had to say something. I wonder if it is still alive, nothing lives for ever and to have seen it means there must be more than one a species can't exist by itsself.
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